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St
Michael, Great Moulton

Great Moulton, or Moulton St
Michael as it is sometimes known to distingush it from
Norfolk's two other Moultons, neither of which is
particularly near, is one of those parishes that
straggles around lanes, clustering into groups of houses,
with a shop, a hall and a couple of churches. You get the
feeling you could live here without having to leave it
very often.

The
village was home to one of the last surviving tin
churches in East Anglia, Great Moulton Congregational. The building is
now on display at the museum of East Anglian Life in
Stowmarket. Its former near-neighbour, St Michael, sits
fairly close to the Norwich to London railway line, which
cuts through the middle of the village, which is itself
only just off of the main A140 Ipswich to Norwich road.

But,
as Mortlock observed, St Michael is easier seen
from a distance than close up, and I'm glad I had
an OS map with me. The towering, stuccoed former
rectory next door is a better landmark; Pevsner
notes that it is important, an early appearance
in 1831 of what would later become a popular
form.

You approach the church up a narrow
lane, and as the small graveyard opens up the
little church presents itself to you, tower end
first. Everything is small and to scale, and
there is a crispness to the bright flint and red
brick of the tower that is reminiscent of 19th
century village churches on the south coast of
England, or in the north of Ireland. This is
because the tower was completely rebuilt in the
late 1880s, along with the north aisle.

As
you walk up to the church, there is an ancient
tombchest in the churchyard beside the path. The
panels cannot be any later than the early 16th
century, which would make this one of the
earliest graveyard memorials in East Anglia.
However, the top does not match, and the panels
almost certainly came from elsewhere, probably
inside a church, and it is unlikely to have been
this one. Most likely, they were reused for their
current purpose in the 17th or 18th century.

Continuing
eastwards, you can look back at the church and
see that the chancel is earlier than the nave,
and is nearly as big. This is a juxtaposition
that is repeated at several larger churches
around here, including nearby Carleton Rode.

Great Moulton is one of the Pilgrim
Group of parishes, which are all very welcoming, and a
pleasure to visit. However, one thing that everybody
seems to notice about St Michael is quite how dark it is
inside. We came here on a bright day in late winter, the
white light slanting across the graveyard, but very
little of it seems to get inside the church.

This is largely because of
the lack of windows in the western part of the
nave. There is just one window in the south wall,
at the east end. It is a truncated three-light
14th century one, which creates a pool of light
before the chancel arch, but not much else. As
your eyes become accustomed to the light, you see
that St Michael underwent a dramatic redecoration
in the early years of the 20th century.

The walls
are painted in pastel shades, and those in the
chancel are stencilled with flowers, fleurs de
lys and portraits of the four Evangelists. The
window splays are full of intricate vinework, and
scrolls containing Biblical quotations run along
the walls. The scheme was topped off by a
gorgeous large scale St Michael killing a dragon
over the chancel arch, completed in 1909. Pevsner
thought it was terrible, and you wouldn't want to
find it in every church, but I am glad it has
survived here.

Once,
many churches had late 19th and early 20th
century stencilling - you can see something on a
much larger scale nearby at North Tuddenham - but
virtually all of them had their walls whitewashed
in the 1950s and 1960s when this kind of
decoration fell from favour.

Their
survival here gives St Michael a most pleasing
atmosphere that cries out for the flickering of
oil lamps and smoky candles. The walls are
matched by floor tiling in the nave, which is
less successful, or perhaps it is only more
familiar.

The war
memorial window features St Michael and St George, both
in rather martial poses. A curiosity nearby is a Norman
pillar, perhaps part of an old cross. When Mortlock came
this way he found it outside the church, but now it is in
the sanctuary.

Just as
the darkness acts as a counterpoint to the decoration, so
it must have suited the seriousness of the 17th and 18th
century English Church. There are some fascinating
survivals of those centuries at the west end of the
church, high up in the darkness so that you probably
won't even notice them unless you know they are there.

Firstly,
either side of the tower arch are the two decalogue
boards moved from the chancel by the Victorians. As is
often the case with earlier sets, they include depictions
of the two law-bringers, Moses and Aaron, one at the top
of each board.

Secondly, there are two sets of royal arms,
one above the north door and one above the south. Neither
has endured the passage of time without damage, but both
are interesting. Those above the south door, on canvas,
are to George III, and carry the names of churchwardens
Edward Wiseman and George Borrett, and the date 1762.
Those above the north door, painted on board, are not
clear at all, but appear to be a rare set to Charles I.

There is an 18th century
charity board in the north aisle, and it must be
said that this aisle feels thoroughly rustic,
without the urban patina so much Victorian work
has. It could almost be medieval, if you didn't
know. The font is a grand 15th century one with
lions and fleurons on the bowl. The stem has been
vandalised, and when Mortlock came this way the
lions around the base had been replaced with
plaster ones. But these are now gone.

The oldest thing inside the church
is actually the original 14th century chancel
arch, which was not rebuilt. It has little heads
at 30cm intervals. I wonder how many are
portraits of parishioners of the time? This is a
lovely church, quite unlike any other in this
part of Norfolk, with a special character and
atmosphere all of its own. It won't be long
before I return, I hope.